Caught in the classifieds

The all-new Scirocco was the star of this month’s Geneva Motor Show – and that’s helped turn the spotlight on to older variants.

The boxy 1974 original is arguably the prettiest version of all those available, but a quick scan of the classifieds drew a blank – examples from that era are more likely to be found among enthusiasts’ clubs and at classic car dealers. So we looked for the more common second generation, which arrived in 1981.

Yet even then, we could find only 11 models listed in a nationwide search, and all of these had covered huge distances. A trawl of specialist classic car Internet sites also failed to provide a huge selection, although we did track down this 1990 G-reg example on the ClassicCarsForSale.co.uk website.

The last-of-the-line manual GT has 75,000 miles on the clock and comes with a fresh MoT. It’s incredibly rare, but remember, the 1.8-litre model isn’t fast by modern standards, and the annual road tax bill comes to a hefty £185.

A group 14 rating also makes insurance expensive, although the £1,295 price means you should have some cash to spend on running costs. Its rarity – plus the reappearance of the Scirocco badge on a new VW product – means its value is unlikely to drop any further. So, this is a good potential investment for the future.